16 July, 2018 - Helping build a better and joint regional tourism offer that will attract more tourists to the region, lengthen their stay, and increase revenues and the number of quality jobs in the industry was the main goal of the grant scheme launched by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat.
The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat launched a 1,62 million EUR worth grant scheme that will be utilised to improve infrastructure and quality of services along regional cultural and adventure tourism routes. As explained by the RCC, the grants scheme is an integral part of the European Union fund and RCC implemented Tourism Development and Promotion project worth 5 million euros. It will be carried out through three consecutive cycles with an aim to implement at least ten pilot projects in each cycle.
The scheme will include over 30 grants, worth up to 54,000 EUR each, and will be implemented over a three-year period. According to the explanation of Goran Svilanović, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, with this grant scheme, the RCC will enable both public and private sectors in the six Western Balkan economies to implement necessary interventions at tourism sites and make cultural and natural attractions more appealing to international and regional visitors.
Public calls for proposal will initiate each of the cycles that will be open to legal entities including non-governmental and non-profit organisations, associations, foundations and local authorities that will be directly responsible for the preparation, management and implementation of grants. The specific objective of the Call for Proposals is to achieve the objectives stipulated by the Triple P Tourism in SEE: Promotion, Policy, and Pilots project. As stated on the RCC website, the Call for Proposals aims to increase employment and sustainability of the regional tourism through development of value-added regional tourism products and their international promotion towards an increased number of tourist visits and their spending.
The first call for the proposal issued today will be specifically open for local and regional tourism development organisations, tourism clusters, educational and training organisations actively engaged in tourism development, as well as national and nature parks, established in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia or The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Deadline for submission of Concept Notes under 3P 1st Call for Proposals is 16.08.2018.
